Advice on a potential power monitoring device

Hardware
1

Hello, i am looking for a little advice / opinions.

I have a atlantic alfea heatpump installed since about 5 years.

I have been using BSB-LAN device to monitor some of the temperatures and access the settings. I would like to take another step forward with monitoring, and i gather that the next step should probably be to track the power consumption.

My question is, would something like this be suitable enough? Acrel ADL200-NK/WF - Aliexpress

I am severely limited budget wise with 4 kids, and would like to make savings where possible.

I like the fact that it outputs to mqtt which should be easy to bring into my existing systems.

I would just like to hear your thoughts, good or bad please.

2

Welcome, Crighton, to the OEM forum.

Generally speaking, those sorts of device tend to be accurate and reliable. It is Class 1 accuracy (roughly 1%) and the manual I found https://dedjh0j7jhutx.cloudfront.net/1473688186151542784%2F06df7c53e67868fa462031ebc5761f55.pdf seems to have everything you need to know, though some of the translations are “original” - I’ve no idea what “active valley energy” might mean.

It looks as if you’ll need a Modbus RS485 module where you will receive the data - the link you gave and the manual mention Wi-Fi, but with no further details.

There’s also the non-WiFi version which has a display instead, also RS485 & Modbus. https://www.acrelenergy.com/uploads/file/adl200-manual.pdf

You will of course need to break into your wiring to install this meter, I assume you know the local regulations with regard to this.

We use this SDM120 Modbus MID 45A - Shop | OpenEnergyMonitor, which is comparable, so there’s a lot of information in the forum here about the Modbus interface, should you need it.